Filth (film)

This article is about the 2013 Scottish crime comedy. For the 2008 Finnish horror film, see Sauna (film).

Filth
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jon S. Baird
Screenplay by	Jon S. Baird
Produced by	Jon S. Baird Mark Amin Christian Angermayer Will Clarke Stephen Mao Ken Marshall Jens Meurer Celine Rattray Trudie Styler
Starring	James McAvoy Jamie Bell Eddie Marsan Imogen Poots Jim Broadbent
Cinematography	Matthew Jensen
Edited by	Mark Eckersley
Music by	Clint Mansell
Production companies	Steel Mill Pictures Film i Väst
Distributed by	Lionsgate (UK)
Release dates	16 September 2013 (2013-09-16) (Old Town Taito International Comedy Film Festival) 27 September 2013 (2013-09-27) (Scotland) 4 October 2013 (2013-10-04) (UK)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$5 million
Box office	$8,280,558

Filth is a 2013 British crime comedy-drama film written and directed by Jon S. Baird, based on Irvine Welsh's novel Filth. The movie was released on 27 September 2013 in Scotland and on 4 October 2013 elsewhere in Britain and Ireland. The film was released in the United States on 30 May 2014.

Plot

Bruce Robertson (James McAvoy) is a Detective Sergeant in Edinburgh, Scotland; a scheming, manipulative, misanthropic man who spends his time indulging in drugs, alcohol, sexually abusive relationships, and "the games" — his euphemism for the myriad foul plots he hatches directed at workmates. Robertson also delights in systematically bullying and taking advantage of his mild-mannered friend Clifford Blades (Eddie Marsan), a member of Robertson's masonic lodge whose wife he repeatedly prank calls and harasses as part of one of the games (transgressions for which he ultimately frames Blades himself).

Robertson's main goal in life is to gain promotion to Detective Inspector, the path to which appears to open when he is assigned to oversee the investigation into the murder of a Japanese student. He slowly loses his grip on reality as he works the case, however, suffering from a series of increasingly severe hallucinations. These hallucinations become worse as the film gets closer to the end and Robertson descends into insanity. It is ultimately revealed through dream-like exchanges with his psychiatrist (Jim Broadbent) that he is on medication for bipolar disorder, and wracked with guilt over a tragic accident which led to the death of his younger brother at some point in his childhood. It also becomes clear that his wife had left him for another man some time prior to the film's events and is denying him access to his daughter, developments which sparked his desperate bid for promotion, and also led him to start dressing as his wife when off duty in order to 'keep her close to him'.

While wandering the streets on such an occasion, Robertson is taken by the gang responsible for the murder (which it is revealed that he witnessed at the start of film, but could not report to his colleagues for fear of disclosing his crossdressing and problems at home) and badly beaten. He manages however to kill the leader by throwing him out a window, and is found by his colleagues. Robertson not only misses out on the promotion as a result of the events, but is in fact demoted to Constable and is reassigned to uniform, while rookie Ray Lennox (Jamie Bell) is promoted to Detective Inspector. The film closes with Clifford watching a tape—that was left for him upon his release from jail—of Robertson apologising. Robertson then prepares to commit suicide by hanging himself, but is interrupted by a woman and her son (two characters whom he'd met several times before - he attempted to save the woman's husband's life when he had a heart attack on the side of the road but died nonetheless) knocking on his front door. He then breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience repeating his catchphrase—"Same rules apply"—and then laughs as the chair breaks under him.

Cast

• James McAvoy as DS Later PC Bruce Robertson
• Jamie Bell as DS later DI Ray Lennox
• Eddie Marsan as Clifford Blades
• Imogen Poots as DS Later Acting DI Amanda Drummond
• Brian McCardie as DI later DCI Dougie Gillman
• Emun Elliott as DS Peter Inglis
• Gary Lewis as DS Gus Bain
• John Sessions as DCI later DSI Bob Toal
• Shauna Macdonald as Carole Robertson
• Jim Broadbent as Dr Rossi
• Joanne Froggatt as Mary
• Kate Dickie as Chrissie
• Martin Compston as Gorman
• Iain De Caestecker as Ocky
• Shirley Henderson as Bunty
• Jordan Young as Lexo
• Pollyanna McIntosh as Size Queen
• Bobby Rainsbury as Stephanie
• Zack Eisaku Niizato as Japanese Student
• Ron Donachie as Hector
• Tracy-Ann Oberman as Diana
• Natasha O'Keeffe as Anna
• David Soul as Punter
• Joy McAvoy as Estelle

Reception

Box office

The film earned £250,000 in box office revenue during its opening weekend in Scotland, reaching number one in the charts. It grossed £842,167 ($1.4m) in the following weekend, when it went on general release throughout the United Kingdom. In the United States it received a limited release in 5 theaters and grossed $34,411. The film ultimately ended up grossing $8,280,558 worldwide.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 62% rating based on 79 reviews with an average score of 6.2 out of 10. The consensus is "Warped, grimy, and enthusiastically unpleasant, Filth lives up to its title splendidly." The film also has a score of 56 on Metacritic based on 24 reviews. Mark Kermode gave a less than glowing review on BBC News' Film Review saying that while James MacAvoy delivers a good performance, the movie itself wasn't funny enough to be liked and he needed some levity which was why it was interesting to him that Filth opened in the UK in the same week as another Edinburgh set film Sunshine on Leith. Kermode then suggested a double bill, "Filth brings you down and a bit of Sunshine on Leith to bring you up again".

External links

• Official website
• Filth at IMDb
• Filth at Box Office Mojo
• Filth at Rotten Tomatoes
• Filth at AllMovie